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Hell in a Cell (2017)
Hell in a Cell (2017) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event, produced by WWE for the SmackDown brand. It took place on October 8, 2017, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. It was the ninth event under the Hell in a Cell chronology. Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the pre-show, and the main card featured two bouts in the titular match type. In the main event, Kevin Owens defeated Shane McMahon in the namesake match that also had the added stipulation of being falls count anywhere. In the other Hell in a Cell match, which opened the main show, The Usos defeated The New Day to become record three-time SmackDown Tag Team Champions. It was also the first time that a WWE tag team championship was defended in a Hell in a Cell match. Other prominent matches included Jinder Mahal retaining the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura, and Baron Corbin defeated AJ Styles and Tye Dillinger to win the United States Championship in an impromptu triple threat match. The event was also notable for Bobby Roode's main roster pay-per-view debut where he defeated Dolph Ziggler. Storylines The card comprised eight matches, including one on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the SmackDown brand. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show SmackDown Live. At SummerSlam, Jinder Mahal defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the WWE Championship due to a distraction from The Singh Brothers (Samir and Sunil Singh). On the following episode of SmackDown, as retribution for The Singh Brothers costing Nakamura his WWE Championship match, General Manager Daniel Bryan scheduled Nakamura to face The Singh Brothers in a handicap match that Nakamura won. Afterwards, Mahal attacked Nakamura, but Nakamura countered with the Kinshasa. On the August 29 episode, Nakamura and Randy Orton defeated Mahal and Rusev. After the match, Orton attacked Nakamura with an RKO. A number one contendership match between Nakamura and Orton was scheduled for the following week, in which Nakamura defeated Orton to face Mahal for the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell. The next two weeks, Mahal and The Singh Brothers made fun of Nakamura and mocked his facial expressions and signature poses. Nakamura responded that there would be no jokes when he wins the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell. The following week, Mahal apologized to Nakamura, but continued to make fun of him, prompting Nakamura to confront Mahal. Nakamura attacked the Singh Brothers, but Mahal then attacked Nakamura. Nakamura attacked the three and performed the Kinshasa on Mahal. On the final SmackDown before Hell in a Cell, Nakamura's in-ring interview with Renee Young was interrupted by The Singh Brothers. During the distraction, Mahal attacked Nakamura from behind. Nakamura attempted to fight off the three, but was overwhelmed. At SummerSlam, Commissioner Shane McMahon was the special guest referee for the United States Championship match between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles. During the match, Owens attempted a pin, but Shane saw that Styles' foot was on the bottom rope and ordered the match to continue. A frustrated Owens shoved Shane, who shoved back, allowing Styles to defeat Owens to retain the title. On the following SmackDown, Shane gave Owens one final shot at the title and also allowed him to pick the referee for the match; Owens chose Baron Corbin. During the match, Shane took over referee duties after Corbin walked out on the match. Styles took advantage and defeated Owens to retain the championship again. Two weeks later, Shane attacked Owens after warning him not to talk about his children. Subsequently, Shane was suspended indefinitely on orders of his father, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The following week, Vince called out Owens, reinstated Shane, and scheduled a Hell in a Cell match between the two at Hell in a Cell. Owens agreed on the condition that Vince would allow him to beat a McMahon senseless if provoked. After agreeing and shaking hands, Owens attacked Vince with a headbutt, a super kick, and a frog splash. Vince refused to be carried out on a stretcher and walked out of the ring, helped by his daughter Stephanie McMahon (her first cable television appearance since WrestleMania 33). The following week, Shane threatened that he would give Owens a beating at Hell in a Cell and warned him of his actions. The same night, Owens, via satellite, apologized for attacking Vince, but blamed Shane for his actions. On the September 26 episode, Owens called out Shane, but was confronted by Sami Zayn, who said that Owens went too far. As the two were about to fight, they were stopped by General Manager Daniel Bryan, who scheduled a match between the two. Owens defeated Zayn by referee stoppage after performing a powerbomb onto the ring apron. After the match, Owens attacked Zayn, but Shane appeared. As he attempted to go after Owens, Owens threw Zayn into Shane and fled through the crowd. The following week, Shane changed their match to a falls count anywhere Hell in a Cell match. He called out Owens to no avail, but midway through his promo, Owens appeared in the crowd. Owens began to leave and Shane chased after him through the crowd, where they fought in the concession area and Owens attacked Shane with a powerbomb through a table. Owens returned to the ring to cut a promo, but Shane returned and fought with Owens, which ended with Owens attacking Shane with a super kick and a pop up powerbomb. On the August 29 episode of SmackDown, after finishing his feud with Kevin Owens, United States Champion AJ Styles officially reinstated the U.S. Championship Open Challenge that was answered by Tye Dillinger. Baron Corbin also came out as he also wanted to answer the challenge, but was too late. Styles defeated Dillinger to retain the title and Corbin attacked Dillinger, who was saved by Styles. The following week, Dillinger faced Corbin with Styles on commentary. Corbin won the match with heel tactics. Afterwards backstage, Styles offered Dillinger a title match the following week and Dillinger accepted. During the match, Corbin attempted to interfere, but Styles attacked him with the Phenomenal Forearm, and then defeated Dillinger. After the match, Styles shook Dillinger's hand as a show of respect, but Corbin attacked them both and said that he would be the next challenger for the title. That match, however, did not occur as Corbin attacked Styles before the match and Dillinger attacked Corbin. The following week, Corbin had a rematch with Dillinger with Styles again on commentary. Corbin won the match by countout and declared that he would take the United States Championship. A title match between Styles and Corbin was scheduled for Hell in a Cell. On the final SmackDown before Hell in a Cell, Corbin again faced Dillinger where Dillinger defeated Corbin with a rollup pin. After the match, Styles appeared on the TitanTron. He said that Corbin does not focus enough and gets mad too easily and that was why John Cena defeated him at SummerSlam and why he lost his Money in the Bank cash-in. At SummerSlam, The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) defeated The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods with Kofi Kingston) to regain the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Two weeks later on SmackDown, The Usos earned the right to choose the stipulation for The New Day's championship rematch by defeating New Day in a non-title match. The Usos chose a Street Fight, which occurred on the Sin City SmackDown on September 12, where The New Day defeated The Usos to regain the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. The following week, The Usos invoked their championship rematch for Hell in a Cell. On the September 26 episode, after The Usos defeated The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder), The New Day, who were seated in the front row, said that they wanted to defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championship in a Hell in a Cell match, to which The Usos accepted. The following week, the two teams met in the ring for a verbal confrontation where The New Day claimed to have made the SmackDown tag team division relevant and that their matches with The Usos have been the best matches of those respective shows. At SummerSlam, Natalya defeated Naomi to win the SmackDown Women's Championship and retained the title in a rematch on the Sin City SmackDown on September 12. The following week, Natalya interrupted Charlotte Flair, who was commenting on her father Ric Flair's recovery from real-life medical issues. Charlotte subsequently challenged Natalya to a title match, but was interrupted by Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Tamina. General Manager Daniel Bryan then scheduled a fatal four-way match between the four to determine Natalya's challenger at Hell in a Cell, which was won by Charlotte. After Charlotte defeated Ms. Money in the Bank Carmella on the September 26 episode, she was confronted by Natalya, who said she was glad that Ric Flair was doing better so that he could see his daughter fail at Hell in a Cell. The following week, Natalya and Carmella teamed up to face Charlotte and Becky where Natalya made Charlotte tap out to the Sharpshooter. For several weeks, Dolph Ziggler would come out impersonating other wrestlers' entrances, claiming that was all that the fans cared about, and that they did not care about the actual in-ring performance. He also claimed that he was the best in-ring performer in WWE. After impersonating The Undertaker's entrance on the September 26 episode, Ziggler was confronted by Bobby Roode, who had been promoted to the main roster from NXT on the August 22 episode. He complimented Ziggler's in-ring work, but asked Ziggler to prove that he was the best in a match at Hell in a Cell, to which Ziggler accepted. The following week, after Roode defeated Mike Kanellis, he was confronted by Ziggler, who congratulated Roode on his win. Ziggler said that he would have a big elaborate entrance at Hell in a Cell, but he said that despite that, what really mattered was what would happen after the bell rung. He then claimed that Roode was all show and no talk and he would prove that at Hell in a Cell. At SummerSlam, Randy Orton defeated Rusev in 10 seconds. The two had a rematch on the September 19 episode where Rusev defeated Orton, also in about 10 seconds, but after Orton had already had a match with Aiden English. The following week, in celebration for Rusev defeating Orton, he was presented with the key to his hometown in Bulgaria by the town's mayor. English was on hand to sing a song for the celebration and the mayor proclaimed September 26 as "Rusev Day". Orton then appeared and gave an RKO to English, followed by one to Rusev. Another match between the two was scheduled for Hell in a Cell. On the final SmackDown before Hell in a Cell, Orton faced English with Rusev at ringside, however, Orton defeated English. After Jason Jordan was moved to the Raw brand for being the (kayfabe) illegitimate son of Raw General Manager Kurt Angle, American Alpha, which consisted of Jordan and Chad Gable, was subsequently disbanded. On the August 22 episode of SmackDown, SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan apologized to Gable over the incident and introduced the returning Shelton Benjamin as Gable's new tag team partner; Benjamin last performed in WWE in 2010. The following week, the two teamed up for the first time and defeated The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor). Gable and Benjamin were then victorious over The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder) on the September 12 episode. After the match, Rawley shook hands with Gable and Benjamin out of respect, but Ryder refused. On the October 3 episode, it was announced that Gable and Benjamin would have a rematch with The Hype Bros on the Hell in a Cell pre-show. Aftermath On the following episode of SmackDown, Kevin Owens thanked Sami Zayn for helping him. Zayn explained that he was glad that he was brought to SmackDown, which had been called the "land of opportunity", but he never got an opportunity. He understood that Commissioner Shane McMahon was a busy person, and that maybe his time would come, but after Shane ignored his warning about facing Owens, he realized that Shane did not actually care about him and Shane only cared about himself and that was why he saved Owens. He said that despite their rough history, going from being best friends to bitter rivals, Owens was still his brother and he realized that Owens was right all along in his actions and thanked Owens. Shane appeared the following week and was confronted by Zayn, who said that he would take him out "in one second" if Shane wanted to compete again. Shane said they would eventually settle their score, but the focus now was Survivor Series. New SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos said that they earned The New Day's respect and that they were the best two tag teams on the SmackDown roster. They were then interrupted by The Hype Bros, Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze), and The Ascension. A number one contender's fatal four-way was scheduled between the four teams to determine the next number one contenders for the tag titles, which was won by Gable and Benjamin. They challenged for the titles on the November 7 episode, but the Usos retained after getting counted out. Backstage on the following SmackDown, SmackDown Women's Champion Natalya was confronted by Tamina, Lana, and Carmella. Charlotte Flair then appeared and attacked Natalya. Becky Lynch and Naomi joined to help Charlotte, and the brawl was broken up by referees. Also on the following SmackDown, Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton teamed up and defeated Rusev and Aiden English. WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, who claimed that he had defeated every worthy opponent on SmackDown, made an interpromotional challenge to Raw's Universal Champion Brock Lesnar for Survivor Series. AJ Styles invoked his United States Championship rematch clause against Baron Corbin, but was unsuccessful in gaining the title back. Dolph Ziggler claimed Bobby Roode to be a fraud, as Roode pinned Ziggler by holding his tights. Roode retorted that he was the smarter one in the match. Ziggler said that he was the better wrestler and that he wanted a rematch, which occurred the following week where Ziggler defeated Roode the same way that Roode had defeated him. Roode then challenged Ziggler to a two out of three falls match for the following week, which Roode won and qualified for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Hell in a Cell Category:Hell in a Cell Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2017 Pay-Per-View Events